I'm a bit suspicious of Mr. Baker's argument. On its face, he is correct; the financial problems associated with Social Security are of the "we can muddle through" variety. However, I notice he is silent on the problems associated with Medicare and Medicaid. These will unquestionably break the bank, unless the growth of medical expenses can be seriously contained or even reversed. (In some states, Medicaid alone now accounts for one half of all budgeted spending.) In other words, entitlement programs are a major financial problem, and having Mr. Baker tell us that because one of them (Social Security) is a problem that can be lived with doesn't mean that we can all safely go to sleep and not meddle with entitlements. Every year we delay doing so, of course, while listening to soothing lullabies by Mr. Baker, makes the problem worse.

Posted by: Friedrich von Blowhard on October 23, 2006 11:58 PM

FvB -- He doesn't go into it on that specific posting, but in others Baker's quite as fervent as you are about the way Medicare and Medicaid are getting alarming I'm not with Baker on everything, but I think he's shrewd about the way some powers-that-be are scaring us with nonsense stories about aging populations to strong-arm us into accepting nutty immigration policies. They aren't doing it for our good, that's for sure!

Posted by: Michael Blowhard on October 25, 2006 12:28 AM






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